Deepwater Horizon (2016)
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Starring
Mark Wahlberg – Mike Williams
Kurt Russell – Jimmy Harrell
Douglas M. Griffin – Landry
James DuMont – O’Bryan
From Amazon.com
Summary
“Mark Wahlberg leads an all-star cast in this unforgettably powerful film inspired by a thrilling story of real-life heroes. For the one hundred and twenty-six people aboard the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig, April 20, 2010, began like any normal day. Before day s end, the world would bear witness to one of the greatest man-made disasters in U.S. history. DEEPWATER HORIZON reveals the brave acts of the men and women who rose to the challenge and risked everything to lead others to safety.”
-From Amazon.com
Review
This movie was such an eye-opener and I had no idea. When I first saw the trailer, I knew that I wanted to see it. However, I didn’t have time to go and see it in the theatres, and I was also unsure of how good it was going to be. I had heard good things about it however it slowly dropped off my radar (with all the other amazing movies on the way or that have come out recently). But I was traveling recently and it was on the entertainment system in the plane an I had to watch it. I will be re-watching it due to the fact that it was such a good movie and the tiny screens on planes do not do it justice.
First of all, when you heard about the BP oil spill in 2010, you heard about it through the news from the corporate perspective. You saw pictures of the oil rig, and of the spill, however you never really got to hear about it from the people who worked on the rig and what they went through. This movie really helped you understand just what happened to them and how the entire situation was just because of bureaucracy, in short. So due to the new angle that it shows about the situation, I do recommend watching it.
Second, the acting was phenomenal. It wasn’t anything special with the acting as all the characters were based off real people and real events and it felt like a dramatization in every way, which I really did like because you got to learn something, not just be entertained. I learnt so much about the entire situation that I had no idea about before I watched it.
As for how they portrayed it, they did an amazing job. The entire situation when the pressure started to build with the oil to the final explosion really kept you on your toes and questioning what would happen next. The ending also was really good in my opinion because of how realistic it was. (Not spoilers) When people were saved and finally made it back to a hotel while they waited for family members to get in or to be sent back to their destination, the survivors were walking through the lobby and family members who didn’t know where their family were, were there yelling at the survivors. The survivors had an idea of who lived and who died but you had this scene of a family getting into Mark Wahlbergs characters face and you could see the shock and confusion in the character, as well as the anger and confusion from the families who weren’t informed of the situation and unsure what to expect. It was really quite chilling. And it ended with you just feeling so confused and unsure of why these kinds of things happen, to such a shocking intensity.
The movie does have language, and is quite graphic with the injuries (bones are visible) which I was not prepared for, however it was as realistic as it gets.
I honestly think that this movie did a fantastic job of telling the story from the workers perspective and seeing how corporate really caused this to happen.
If you haven’t seen it, I really do recommend checking it out and watching it. However, find a fluffy movie for after as you will need a pick-me-up.
Happy Watching!
